The secrets to being happy as a TEFL teacher
1. Low expectations
Working as a care worker when I came out of university and in chicken nugget and packaging for Chinese takeaways factories nights in the holidays certainly helped for that, as did having a family for whom working in warehouse with a contract or getting a job in a circus were a step up just a couple of generations ago.
2. Accept the lack of desirable options
There have been more than a couple of occasions when I’ve decided I had to get entirely out of classroom teaching, but the more I have tried other things (working in a publisher’s, an attempt at freelance ELT writer, full time teacher trainer, Director of Studies) and found them more restricting, boring, trivial or repetitive, the more I have been happy to be planning for and interacting with a group of people learning English.
3. Find one thing you like about it and make the most of it
For me, that is thinking of an idea (not usually a particularly original one, just a variation on something I have tried before) I can try with a class, typing up what I need to do that, trying it out, polishing it up, and sharing it with others if I can.
4. Change the things you can and accept the things you can’t
You can- school every year or so, country ditto, age of students, supplementary materials you use (even if you have to buy the books or make the worksheets yourself), toys in kids’ classes, some expectations and opinions of your students. You can’t- having culture shock, the people in the country you are living in, bad management (even by moving, usually), itchy feet if you are prone to it,
5. Knowing when to quit
Don’t know if this one is possible to learn, as I spent nine of my first twelve months as a teacher 100% convinced that I could neither teach nor enjoy attempting to do so. I also signed on for a second year in Spain and regretted that from almost the next moment. Seem to have timed taking a break from Japan quite well though.
6. Friends, flatmates, lovers and family
I can’t give you any tips of these, but knowing how many of your feelings are due to your love life rather than your job or the country you are living in can certainly put things into perspective.
7. Something more important than TEFL
Could be one of the above, could be another reason for being in that country, or could just be a hobby.
8. Find the right country
Also not easy, but makes a big difference.
9. A way to completely unwind
10. Knowing you really want to be abroad
Don’t go abroad to improve yourself or your job prospects, because for one thing it won’t achieve either of those. Living in London for a year or two should give you more realisitic reasons for wanting to be anywhere else.
11. Thinking that you aren’t wasting your life
Watching The Office really helped for that, as did working in one. Writing and helping other teachers also helps.
12. Just the right level of idealism
Being a real idealist is going to lead to disappointment after disappointment (unless you try VSO, I guess), and cynicism is hardly the way to happiness for anyone.
And here are some I wouldn’t put too much importance on:
1. The kind of teaching you are doing
2. The school you choose
3. Being able to speak the language
Any others any ideas for things that are and aren’t important?
April 11th, 2009 at 11:31 am
Knowing your work has real tangible value and that you are contributing to global communication.
Many, many, many, many other jobs leave people with the feeling that they are simply working on a treadmill.
They work hard but can never ever see their results and aside from making some corporate manager even richer.. they don’t know the value of their work.
In TEFL, it really doesn’t long to see and know what difference you’ve made to someone’s life because you can hear it and share it with your students.
On top of that, there is a bottom-line issue, it is us TEFLrs -who while badly paid, stuck in random parts of the world, or whatever people moan about – that are actively creating a world where people all over the world communicate and negotiate, politik, share news, love, wisdom.
Hands off to us, I say.
xKarenne
April 11th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
3. Being able to speak the language
Pretty important for an English teacher to speak English, I would have thought ;)
April 11th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Hi Alex
Great list, very much caught my eye and I agree with pretty much everything you put. I especially agree with number 11 (having had various shit jobs in the past that I still remember) and number 5, which is so hard for many.
Don’t know about “being able to speak the language” as being not so important. Perhaps, but I also found it made a big big difference in feeling integrated in a new country. Then again, my experience has been Europe and Latin America, not Asia. But I would still probably urge long term TEFLers in a country to learn the language.
Otherwise, great post. Thanks Alex!
April 11th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
For me, using interesting materials in the class and getting the students to discuss real issues helps a lot; also spending time learning about the students, their lives and how they view the world keeps me from getting bored.
I like the post – though for me not being able to speak the language is a really big deal. I find it very frustrating not to be able to order easily in a restaurant or have a chat in a shop. As my language improves, so do my feelings about the culture of the country I’m in.
Seonaid
April 11th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
Look, life NEEDS lower middle-class losers! We can’t all be winners, or accountants and surveyors, or even moderately successful, so just take pleasure (I know I do!) in having a job that is SO much better than working in a sandwich shop or enduring clerical and admin shit in an office. I mean, you don’t have to deal with the scummy members of public – or colleagues – that those jobs seem to attract either, AND you get longer holidays and shorter hours!!
Always look on the bright side of life!! Or come to the Gulf, where you can earn 1,000 quid a week and have a backsliders life of riley!
April 11th, 2009 at 11:28 pm
I guess what I meant by speaking the language is that choosing a country where you already speak the language or a country where the language is likely to be easy for you isn’t important. Also, people who obsessively study the language aren’t likely to be any happier than the people who do nothing. Making a little progress all the time is the best, medium way, I reckon.
April 12th, 2009 at 12:22 am
Sometimes not knowing the language helps with the mystery and can make it more peaceful. Friends who understood how rude Koreans actually were about them just had another stress in their lives!
When I was in France – I spoke and understood French very well – so could follow strangers conversations in the Metro etc. Boring!! But it did make me independent in a way I can’t be in Asia. Here in Vietnam I can manage with English for everyday politeness and commerce and have translation available for anything more.
So – knowing the language is not a barrier either way. A bit like knowing the L1 when you are teaching L2. Can help but can sometimes be a nuisance.
April 12th, 2009 at 11:19 am
‘Find one thing you like about it and make the most of it’
This is where I completely agree with you ,Alex.
This is the real point that keeps me going on teaching as the TEFL teacher.Whenever I get bored my students feel the same and I am the one to push them again in the classroom but make them feel away from the classroom.Sometimes we are really away from the classroom and sometimes we just imagine we are.It is Shakespeare who has always taken me out of the real world to his dream world and then again mercilessly into the world where we carry on living. I made my students experience it through Teaching Drama and mainly Shakespeare.We have performed five of his plays until now.I am really enthusiastic about it so are my students and we learn together..Enthusiasm is caught not brought..We shared a lot together and we still care for each other.I am in contact with my players who graduated years ago.I believe ,Thanks to Shakespeare and to Dr.Judy Monthie Doyum -a teacher trainer whom I have always admired.She has been a good guide and I took a lot of ispiration and stimulus to do what I was doing and that what I was doing was the right thing.I cannot thank her enough…
April 13th, 2009 at 7:45 am
Was hoping to find more suggestions for #9.
April 13th, 2009 at 7:47 am
One thing that made me happy was ceasing any involvement with Dave’s ESL Cafe.
April 13th, 2009 at 8:16 am
This is a nice post. I’d add “keep learning” to this list. If you keep reading about teaching or language or learning or whatever it is that interests you, or keep doing further qualifications (certificates, diplomas, etc.) you can improve your own sense of professionalism and thus job satisfaction. On the other hand, maybe it would work against 1. Mmmm….
April 13th, 2009 at 9:23 am
Clean suggestions for number 9?
Reading is a difficult one, as is listening to the radio, because there is always the danger that it could give you ideas for a lesson. Mine would be:
- Swimming
- My Bloody Valentine
- Playing with your kids or young nephews and nieces (assuming you haven’t become obsessed with language development in native speaker children)
- Mindless stuff like doing the dishes, filing etc.
April 13th, 2009 at 10:51 am
What makes us happy? Here are a few things from the BBC six-part series on the science of happiness:
“Family and friends are crucial – the wider and deeper the relationships with those around you the better…
Marriage also seems to be very important. According to research the effect of marriage adds an average seven years to the life of a man and something like four for a woman…
The third element is having goals embedded in your long term values that you’re working for, but also that you find enjoyable. ..Psychologists argue that we need to find fulfillment through having goals that are interesting to work on and which use our strengths and abilities. “
More about the series (including some video clips) here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/happiness_formula/4783836.stm
April 13th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
What has David V got against Dave’s ESL Cafe? I’ve read him say this several times… don’t get it.
Oh, and Sandy, you are sounding ever more nicer. what’s gotten into you – you’re chippier these days. I might have to come visit your blog.
April 13th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
Actually, Karenne, I’m trying to chat you up – a bit of ‘cyber-courting’, but don’t tell my wife!
BTW, I’m still waiting for your promised ‘Topless TEFL’ video on YouTube. Or was that Natasha who promised it…?
April 14th, 2009 at 3:42 am
I agree with David V about Dave’s ESL cafe.
I have found it useful in the past when I lived in Korea, but too much time spent reading the posts there just makes my more negative and cynical.
It is a useful site in moderation – but it’s easy to fritter away hours and hours of downtime just reading about how bad everything is…
April 14th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Sandy dear, check out hot4words on youtube. You shall be amused and even possibly educated. I take my hat off to her basically.
April 14th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
Dear TEFLista
Thank you very much for the link bbc series on happiness.I am really happy:)for I will use the text in my reading class tomorrow.
April 15th, 2009 at 2:12 am
You’re welcome and I’m happy that you’re happy! :-)
April 15th, 2009 at 4:39 am
Two more:
- Being totally uninterested in status (even if, as the latest edition of the Health Check podcast from Radio 4 has it, that means you will have a shorter life expectancy than your boss)
- No expensive habits, or moving to a country where you can afford them
April 15th, 2009 at 11:10 am
I teach abroad Alex in three different countries and cope with three different host languages and three different diets and three different cultures but am always glad to return home to London. Your comment about London says more about you than the City and Metropolis which are two of the most exciting, highly cultured, diverse [ particularly in diets] places in the world. We moved from the beautiful Cotswolds living in Minchinhampton for Hackney. Be careful how you reveal yourself through comments such as yours.
April 15th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Don’t ever be afraid to dream a dream:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY
April 15th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
“Be careful”????
London is fine if you have loads of money, but I hardly think you are a TEFL teacher in a language school in London, paying 160 pounds a month to commute on the most unreliable transport system in the world full of the world’s most miserable and aggressive commuters and finding you can’t afford to eat out and enjoy that international food etc.
April 17th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
:( I was planning to go to London and teach Turkish or Bulgarian .But now after what you have said I wonder if I should do it or not.
April 17th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
Anyone got a list of ‘happy’ songs to listen to?
April 17th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Here are a few of my own:
Jewel – Somewhere Over The Rainbow
Bobby McPherin – Don’t Worry Be Happy
Outkast – Hey Ya
And one especially for Alex, who mentioned a while back that he likes tap dance:
Happy Feet ( early jazz version ):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuu0nmK_1S8&feature=related
November 28th, 2009 at 4:02 am
“The secrets to being happy as a TEFL teacher”? There isn’t much happiness in that list! It reads more like a Loser’s Manifesto, written by a jaded and miserable soul. If you have low self-esteem in London – guess what? You’ll have low self-esteem everywhere else.
I agree with John Bolt. This piece says far more about Alex Case than it does about life – as I recognise it – as an English teacher. Perhaps it’s time to go home, Alex?
November 28th, 2009 at 7:57 am
“Truth Speaker”??
’nuff said
August 20th, 2010 at 2:49 am
Look, London is a dive of monumental proportions – full of retarded welfare state moochers and miserable bankers; inbetween all of that misery you have the pollution, a failed multiculturalism, impoverised middle class, destitute underclass and a wealth of losers lost in an illusion of success – dead and waiting for their mortage, pensions, to finance the miserable demise of their pathetic existence – upholding fake relationships.. such utterly sad lives…
I teach and travel, average 2k a month, never pay rent and have had sustained success for over 8 years doing just so… I find teaching English internationally is the most rewarding career on the planet. The only qualification – to be above and beyond the limits of the class condemned populous of the UK.. Leave that dump and set yourself free of these morons!! Now, that’s positive thinking :)
August 23rd, 2010 at 6:49 pm
After all that – thank you Realitychick – you just put it all into perspective!!!